A heated driveway seems like it would be really cool. Unfortunately there are issues that are more serious than cost to operate. With 2 feet of packed snow and sub-zero temps, it would take a very long time to melt off the drive. Once it was melted off, there wouldn't be anywhere for the water to go and it would just freeze in the street.

The trick is to turn it on while it snows.....it never gets a chance to accumulate. provided there's enough horsepower to keep it >32ºF

This is last Saturday - I shoveled about 3 ft off the snow bank in anticipation of the 12 inches coming on Sunday. I just had no where else to put the snow and couldn't throw the snow over the bank anymore (8+ ft at the edge of the driveway). Sunday ended up being mixed with rain which made for a lot of slush and wet snow.Here's a few more pics ( http://s881.photobucket.com/albums/ac20/akr71/snow/ ). We got about another 3 inches today.